1. Is Annihilationism consistent with the Baptist Faith & Message?
2. Is Inclusivism consistent with the BF&M?
3. Does Scripture violate the law of non-contradiction.
Annihilationism is the belief that at some point, the souls of unbelievers are destroyed rather than suffering an eternal conscious torment (for millions of years and forever in horrific and unimaginable torture by fire). Inclusivism is the belief that all religions are equally valid and all paths lead to heaven. The Law of Non-Contradiction means that the Bible never conflicts with itself because it does not contain any errors.
INCLUSIVISM?
Let's start by looking at Inclusivism.
In John 14:6 Jesus answered: I am the Way the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except by me.
Jesus is the only way, the only path to heaven. His Gospel is the truth and everything else is a lie. My heart hurts for those trapped in false religions because of the family or country they were born into, but that is motivation to share the good news about Jesus, not to water it down. John 3:36 proclaims:
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
1 John 5:11-12 further testifies:
God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.
NO, inclusivism is not consistent with the BFM. More importantly, it is not consistent with Scripture. Eternal life comes ONLY through Jesus Christ. That life is available for whosoever, for anyone who believes, so the invitation is All-INclusive. But the promise is made available and the way provided EXclusively through Jesus.
Non-Contradiction?
Does the Bible ever contradict or disagree with itself? NO. That is my firm conviction. I believe that the Bible is the perfect word of God with no mistakes. We like to use the terms Inspired and Inerrant. Paul wrote to Timothy that:
All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16)
I believe that every word of the Bible is exactly the word that God intended with the detail and nuance of meaning that He wanted to communicate to us in the original languages of Hebrew (Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament), and a bit of Aramaic. The term for this belief is verbal plenary inspiration. This is the understanding that God didn't just inspire the basic thoughts or ideas found in Scripture, but that each and every word has specific meaning and purpose. It is because of these beliefs that when I find an apparent contradiction between passages of Scripture in an English translation of the Bible, I study hard to reconcile and harmonize them, looking up words in the original languages when necessary. Every time I do this, without fail, I find treasure in the form of a better understanding of Scripture, a deeper understanding of God's nature and character and even firmer confidence in His word.
A good example of the need for this type of study was exhibited when one of the professors at SBU admitted that the Bible seems to contradict itself on the issue of Annihilationism. Since we know God's word never disagrees, it behooves us to undertake just such a study now. I invite you to come with me on this brief, but incredibly important journey.
Annihilationism?
Traditionally, many Baptists believe that unbelievers will suffer an eternal conscious torment in hell. But Jesus seems to provide contradictory teachings on the subject. Here are the two most obvious examples:
In Matthew 10:28 Jesus says:
Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
In this passage, Jesus clearly says that the soul is destroyed in hell, or Gehenna. Apollumi, the word translated as destroy, means to perish, to abolish, to put to death, to separate and destroy. It also implies the separation/severing and destruction of a union, the end of a relationship. This verse strongly seems to indicate an annihilation.
But in Matthew 25:46, speaking about the fate of the unrighteous at the final judgement, Jesus says:
And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
To someone who has grown up hearing a certain type of preaching about hell, this passage might immediately evoke thoughts of an eternal conscious suffering in hell. But with a little study, we can learn that the word translated as punishment is kolasis, from the root word kolos, which means to prune or lop off, the way a tree is pruned. This word does not indicate an eternal conscious torment, but rather that the wicked are punished by being permanently cut off from God.
Since both passages teach a permanent severing of the relationship with God, an eternal state of being cut off and separated from Him, we are left to answer the question: What happens to a soul when it is cut off from God? The passage in Matthew 10 tells us 2 parts of the story: The soul will be separated from all communion and connection with God AND destroyed. Not only is there no contradiction here, but the passage from chapter 25 builds on the earlier teaching, giving us the added imagery of a branch being pruned from a vine or tree.
Jesus said: I am the vine, you are the branches, Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do NOTHING. (John 15:5)
Apart from Jesus, we can do nothing. As we already learned today, Eternal life only comes through Jesus. We can't even exist without Him. 1 Timothy 6:15-16 teaches us that God alone is Sovereign, King of Kings, Lord of Lords and that ONLY God is Immortal. Only God. Fellow human being, neither you nor I possess an immortal soul. Eternal life comes only one way, from being connected to Jesus. Act 17:28 affirms that In Him we live and move and have our being. Jesus taught that a soul cut off from Him is destroyed.
Before moving on to explore more Biblical teaching about judgement and what happens to the souls of unbelievers, let's answer the question at hand. Is Annihilationism consistent with our denomination's doctrinal confession the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 or does it contradict?
The BFM states: The unrighteous will be consigned to hell the place of everlasting punishment. When most Baptists read this passage they likely envision an eternal conscious torment of the soul. When I read it I immediately think of Matthew 10:28 and 25:46. I read everlasting punishment, drawn from verse 46, as punished by being eternally cut off from God and all that implies. Everlasting and Eternal are ways of translating the same Greek word, aionios. This means the punishment is permanent and will not be relented from, but does not specifically refer to an ongoing state of torment, but rather a state of being cut off from God forever. I am perfectly happy to remain in friendly cooperation with those who disagree, as long as I am free to study and discuss the issue in a kind, loving and brotherly manner. Since the BFM does not mention eternal conscious torment, I see no conflict and so my answer is YES, annihilationism is consistent with the BFM because it affirms eternal punishment, though it differs from the popular tradition of what that punishment is.
The Rest of the Story
In no way does annihilationism disagree with the Nicene Creed, the Chalcedonian Creed and those basic, orthodox beliefs that all Christians agree upon. But the more important question is this: Does annihilationism agree with the complete counsel of Scripture on the subject of the souls of unbelievers? Is it sound, Biblical doctrine?
In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, found in Luke 16:19-31, Jesus describes a rich man who lived a life of indulgence and has died, finding himself suffering in Hades. The Old King James version, beautiful as it is, unfortunately translated this word as Hell, which was confusing, since a very different word, Gehenna was also translated as Hell. Nearly all modern translations now read: Hades. The man was clearly in torment and aware or conscious of it. Two different words are translated as torment and tormented in the text. One is a word for testing which will be discussed later, the other, Odunao, is the actual Greek word for torment, meaning intense grief and pain. Hades is a place where unsaved souls suffer a conscious torment after the death of their physical body, but Hades does not last forever.
Revelation 14:9-11 describes God's judgement on the unrighteous. Revelation 20:11-15 also describes his judgement when all the dead in Hades are given up to be judged for their works. Hades is not a permanent place of residence. It is more like spiritual death row for those awaiting God's ultimate judgement. After judgement, they are consigned to the lake of fire. Here are those passages:
...he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image...
Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books. Then the sea gave up the dead that were in it and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them; each one was judged according to their works. Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
The words translated as tormented and torment are not odunao, the Greek word for unbearable grief and pain we learned about earlier. They are the words basanizo and basanismos. These words describe the process of using a black touchstone to test the purity of gold and silver. When soft metals are scraped across the stone, they leave a mark. The mark made by the purest gold cannot be erased, even with strong acid, but the impure mark can be dissolved and erased. I believe these words are intended to stir up specific mental images. Gold and Silver have been tested with touchstones since around 3,500 B.C. A first century audience would surely have envisioned this process. Even 10 or 12 carrot gold will dissolve, but the purest Gold mark of 18 carrots or higher can not be wiped out or annihilated. In the same way, no amount of good works or even the imprint of the image of God on a person can get them through this testing. We are all stained and made impure by sin. The only way to be pure enough to pass this test is to be cleansed and made pure through Jesus. He passed the test for us. Basanizo absolutely DOES NOT mean to torment or torture. That is a poor and incorrect translation. It means to TEST. Believers will pass this purity test, unbelievers will not. The Bible frequently refers to Christians as being like gold or silver refined in the fire. Scripture also tells us that the righteous will pass the test and pass through the flames and that the unrighteous will not pass the test and will be destroyed in the flames. This is a permanent, once and forever purity test. When we replace the words tormented and torment with the more accurate words tested and testing, it is easy to see that this text cannot and should not be used as a proof text to support eternal conscious torment. ...He will be tested with fire and Sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb and the smoke of their testing goes up forever and ever...
Hebrews 3 reminds us not to have wicked unbelieving hearts so that it won't be said about us They will not enter my rest. In the same way that a generation of rebellious Israelites was not allowed to enter the promised land, unbelievers will not be allowed to enter heaven, not by the light of day, not by the cover of darkness, not ever. When the text says they will have no rest by day or night, our attention should be drawn to the fact that the alternations of day and night are earthly, temporal things that are about to pass away (Rev 22:5). There will be no night or day in eternity, only God's eternal light. The wicked will never enter into God's rest in heaven where he is the source of light. The unrighteous will be dealt with once and for all. There is no purgatory, no second chance for salvation after death, no indulgences, no way to pay, pray or work their way out of this judgement. God's decision is forever and ever, permanent and eternal, once and for all.
I believe that the nail in the coffin of the belief in eternal conscious torment comes from these words: This is the SECOND DEATH, the lake of fire. Just last week, as I was preparing to teach our Sunday Morning Bible study class, I was reading the background information about Egyptian culture provided in our Southern Baptist Sunday School Literature from Lifeway. It says that the Egyptians believed in life after death and they believed that if all earthly memory of a person was erased, they would suffer....wait for it....drumroll please.....THE SECOND DEATH. They specifically called this second death the Annihilation of the Spirit, that part of a person which lives in the afterlife. The book of Revelation was written for Jews and Gentiles alike. I believe Jesus chose this exact word to convey the precise meaning he intended. Would not an Egyptian reading this familiar term have understood it to mean the annihilation of the soul? The people of Israel would have probably become quite familiar with this concept during their lengthy and never-forgotten sojourn in that land. A first century audience would have almost certainly understood this phrase to be referring to the destruction, death and total annihilation of the soul. Even without this context, the term is clear enough in and of itself. The Second Death is the annihilation of the soul.
The death of the soul is a serious thing. But eternal life, at peace, enjoying God's rest in heaven, is available for all who will place their faith, hope and trust in Jesus Christ. And that is Good News.
I have written more extensively about Hades, Gehenna, the Lake of Fire and the nature of the soul and included a substantial list of Scripture References at this link: What the Bible Really Teaches About Hell...and What It Doesn't
I am more than happy to cooperate with brothers and sisters who disagree with me. I rejoice that the Baptist Convention in my home state of Missouri is regaining control of the Missouri Baptist Home and Missouri Baptist University. I applaud their efforts to tighten the reins at SBU. But I sincerely hope that annihilationists will not become the subject of witch hunts. Our beliefs fall well within the boundaries of orthodoxy. Faithful followers of Christ with the highest possible view of Scripture can hold to this position and their perspective deserves to be heard, studied and discussed. I am grateful for Dr. Yarnell's excellent questions. I have mulled them over for the past month and increased my own understanding in the process. I have no agenda other than to see the Bible taught correctly and God's nature and character rightly represented.
Now, friends and readers, brothers and sisters, I have a few questions of my own. If you believe in the Eternal Conscious Torment of the soul, and if you're wrong, how might your teaching negatively impact people's perception of God? Will I be thrown away for my beliefs, my opinion discounted and exiled from Baptist life as annihilationists are hunted down and purged from our churches and schools? Or can we all behave as brothers and sisters and have some meaningful discussions about a very seriously neglected aspect of doctrine? The Bible is and must be regarded as the final authority. The Baptist Faith and Message states that the Holy Bible is the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds and religious opinions should be tried. Sola Scriptura.
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